Valkyria chronicles- Hunter and Hermit-
by yuki kazuhiko
Summary: set in the alternate paradox of the story, instead of taking roles in the Mulberry Harbor assault, Squad 7 is assigned to divert the Imperial's attention to them. The story focus on a story in the viewpoint of Squad 7's sniper Marina Wulfstan and Catherine O'Hara. A lost journey in the woods leads them to more surprise.


**Chapter 1 -**

-Prologue-  
>The story took place in the same alternate timeline to the Mulberry Harbor assault, except Gallian regular army overtook the operation. Welkin's squad was later assigned to drive a wedge to the Imperial army's formation east in order to distract the enemy from the Regular's objective of taking Mulberry harbor. Their first task was to liberate the town Masha out from the Imperial's hand.<p>

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><p>Starry night filled the skies with full moon shining bright illuminating the darkness. Squad 7 managed to get their well-deserved rest after 3 days of journey across the Gallia's open field. They stopped just outskirt near Gallian's town of Masha in preparing the counter-offensive against the Imperial army at the border. The City itself was liberated by the Squad yesterday.<p>

4 Days ago, they were ambushed by a mortar-strike, as the Impy already predicted their move. Even though they managed to crush the Impy's resistance and eliminated the mortar threat, 2 of Squad 7's sniper was MIA; Both Catherine O'Hara and Marina Wulfstan was missing in action after the chaos.

"Edy, get some sleep… "Alicia pats her back as everyone in the Edy's detachment looked up to the blazing heat of the campfire lighting up the area; Jann, Lynn, and even Susie kept themselves occupied by the fire.

"I-m…I'm fine Alicia" she said to her with weak voices. Hans; the Porcavian pig, is sleeping on top of her lap, missing Marina ever since the day Marina was gone.

"Maybe you could sing us some of your song"

"I would love to… but…"

"Cheer up Edy, my bet is that they'll be okay" Homer talks to her "Remember, Cath is a veteran in the first war and Marina is a hunter… I'm sure they'll do just fine"

As the Edelweiss parks just under the tree while Welkin lying on top of the Edelweiss hull, He looked up into the star and start counting while humming a song; emptying his mind form the trouble right now, but he still can't shake the anxiety for both of his sniper's whereabout. Their other tank; Shamrock, parked just behind Edelweiss while Largo is seen munching down carrots with Isara is helping Zaka doing some maintenance on Shamrock.

It was a tense moment for everyone; except Rosie and several of the Squad 7's members that were patrolling the area for any sign of enemy.

"Medic!" a familiar female voice echoed in the jungle. Everyone looked to the source.

Soon, Rozie came in with other member of her patrol team carry 2 wounded soldiers, both Catherine and Marina was still alive, but injured.

"Are they okay?" Welkin yelled and hopped out from Edelweiss and ran towards her.

"Barely…" Rozie replied, carrying the unconscious Marina Wulfstan on her back. Cezary then placed the semi-conscious Catherine on top of the grass while the medic attends her wound. She still murmured a couple of words , unclear to everyone what she actually says.

"God… she's having a high fever… Get her to the tent quickly!" Checking Marina's forehead for the temperature, Welkin then ordered a couple of his men carrying her to the tent. Alicia soon assisted them, right before Catherine was also placed inside the tent next to Marina.

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><p>"Hgmmgh…" the Disoriented Catherine still felt the pain biting down on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, finding herself covered in a blanket while her right shoulder down to her chest wrapped by bandage. Her right foot is wrapped by more bandages.<p>

"You're awake" Fina greeted Catherine with a smile.

"For a moment there, I was confused with your other 2 sisters" Catherine's first word to her, confused by the triplets.

"My mom also said the same thing to me" she chuckled, dabbing wet rag on Catherine's forehead "It seems that your fever is slowly subsiding" she placed the rag on the bucket.

"How long did i-"she said to her before pausing, gritting her teeth because of the pain.

"At least 14 Hours, you're out for 14 hours" Fina interrupted her speech "

"That's a long sleep for me…" Catherine then noticed Marina is still unconscious on the bed. She tried to get up from the bed, but the stinging sensation coming from the gunshot wound kept her lying on the bed instead. "Can't say how lucky we are to escape the jaws of death…twice"

"What happened when both of you gets separated from us?" Fina takes her seat facing Catherine's bed.

"Well…"

**-4 days ago-**

"Incoming!"

"The enemy located us! Spread, spread!"

A Mortar barrage rained their position while they navigate on the confined spaces in the forest. The Edelweiss comes to a stop before reversing at full throttle, hitting Shamrock behind.

"Reverse!"

Zaka reversed the tank to cover as Edelweiss also reverse to cover, trying to pull back to safety out from the mortar firing range.

"How did they discover us!?" Alicia ducked down on the ground, as the only thing blocking her from the enemy's machinegun fire are a couple of bushes and trees.

The 44 Caliber of the Edelweiss rifled cannon later open fires, sending a couple of high explosive 8.8cm rounds to the enemy. Welkin can't get an exact pinpoint location of the enemy, due to the thick foliage blocking the periscope, and the enemy laid down smoke covers.

"What are the orders, lieutenant?" Catherine yelled to Welkin, covering her head with her right hand while lowering her sniper rifle down to waist-level with her right hand.

"Fall back and regroup!" Welkin gave the order on top of the Edelweiss and relay the order to everyone to tactically retreat out from the enemy's range.

"Marina, fall back!" Oscar yelled to her, but the chaos was simply too much, and it distracted her. She can't hear anything from the whistling sound of the bullet passing above her head.

"Come on Marina, let's go…orders are to pull out!" a pat to the shoulder by Catherine shocked Marina.

But before they could move out from the area, a mortar landed near their position and exploded int a fireball. While the tree and bushes shielded them from the shrapnel, te shockwave came after knocked them out from their cover. Both of the perilous snipers are now tumbling their way down into the valley below before coming to a rest.

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><p>"Mgh…" Catherine gritted her teeth, as the pain soon woke her up from the long slumber. The sound of pouring rains comfort her ears. A single leaf falls on top of her face. After she blows out the leaf from her face, she tried to get up, but the immense pain from her right foot stopped her for doing that.<p>

"Stop moving…" Marina said to her; while she sat on the ground, leaning against the tree while her sniper rifle resting on her lap.

Catherine looked up into the cliff above her head. _Damn it was a long drop _her mind stirred.

"No one looking for us?" Catherine asked.

"I'm not sure… we both passed out…" Marina answered her question "By the time I regain consciousness, I was resting on top of you… you softened my landing, but not for you… you broke your leg in the process when you fell." She adds "I checked that foot of yours… and it's the best I can do without Ragnaid treatment"

"I see…" Catherine looked around the forest before grabbing her rifle, crawling to the tree and sat next to Marina "Maybe you should scout ahead for any help…maybe if you're lucky enough—"

"I have already tried that… but it seems that the rain wiped out most of the trace of our squad's path trace" She explains.

"Well Bollock… what a bad day for us" Catherine cussed "So, where are we?"

"That… i not sure… I can't tell where are we, since I can't see where the sun is right now" Marina replied, gazing her eyes to the dark-skies filled with heavy cloud that pours continuous stream of water drops.

"Well… at least… mggh…" she rubbed her forehead from confusion before resting her head against the tree "I wonder if they would search for us…"

"Don't worry… I'll carry you towards uphill… besides; it's not that hard to locate our squad even after this rain"

"I hope they will… because I'm starting to lose my hope in—"before she could continue, Marina gagged Catherine's mouth with her hand, noticing something awkward near them.

"Whddhlll…" Catherine's voice was muffled by Marina's right hand.

"Shh" she whispered to Catherine's ears. Slowly letting go of her hand from Catherine's mouth and reaching for her rifle on the ground "I hear a couple of them… possibly 4 of them"

"Roger… I'm hearing it to" Catherine replied, slowly creeping her hands to her rifle's trigger.

Another hush in the bushes surprised both of the sniper-duo, picking up their rifle and aiming it. But they can't tell exactly where it came from, considering the rain coming down even harder and the water ripples now distract their attention.

"Dammit…" Catherine cursed.

**-To be continued-**

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><p><strong>This is a fanfic of the game "Valkyria Chronicles" developed and published by SEGA. All canonical character featured in this story are rightfully owned by SEGA.<strong>

**-Author note-  
><strong>

**Well, for a starter... this is my first valkyria Chronicle fanfiction story, decide to use both of my favorite VC character ; Catherne and Marina as the Protagonist... and since i'll be working on 2 story right now... this story will see a new chapter per 2 weeks update; depend on my schedule. Any feedback and/or comments are highly welcomed.**


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